Revision as of 16:51, 20 December 2013

Killing Floor is a co-op survival horror game by Tripwire Interactive. It was released on the 14th of May, 2009, and since then has won 3 Voodoo Extreme awards: Best PC Game of 2009, Best Shooter of 2009, and Best PC Game Expansion of 2009. The game supports up to six players in online co-op mode, or players can choose to brave the horrific specimens alone in solo mode. The aim is to cleanse each area of specimens in waves, until reaching the last and most difficult wave. This wave features the game's boss, The Patriarch, who players must also exterminate in order to survive. Contrary to popular belief, Killing Floor's enemies aren't “zombies” and, in fact, are the leftover “specimens” from a dangerous and ludicrously unethical cloning experiment by Horzine Biotech that went horribly wrong. Weak specimens will just attempt to bite or scratch players, while bigger ones were the first in the program that were armed with weapons, like a blade or chainsaw. Even more advanced weapons, such as rocket launchers and chainguns, were developed for use with the program, but it was shut down before any clones were created with these weapons. However, that didn't stop Horzine's CEO Kevin Clamely from "enhancing" himself with this technology.

In the typical way these things go, the program didn’t want to be shut down. The specimens got loose. No one was left alive to turn off the specimen cloning equipment, and they began to run amok all over London. Well, some of them were running amok. Others were shambling amok or even jumping amok, but the point still stands.

The police were sent in, but that wasn’t even a challenge for the specimens. The first army units hadn’t been warned what to expect. The screams of “It's got a bloody chainsaw!” over the radios probably didn’t do much for morale, as whole units were chewed up; quite literally, in some cases.

This leaves only the players: the few survivors from the first police and army units thrown in. Telling anyone about this extermination procedure would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act 1911, 1920, 1989, and that would be a disciplinary offense. So just get in there and do your bit for Queen and Country…

Killing Floor: The Bedtime Story

On the last day of August, everything changed in the bustling city of London.

A group of several thousand protesters were reported assembling outside the offices of a wealthy Biotech corporation called Horzine. The riot police were called in because the general consensus was that these protesters were the violent sort and needed a lesson in civil obedience. All of this was based on eyewitness testimony that the office entrance had been smashed to pieces. It was agreed that this was a poor way to treat the property of a renowned government defense contractor and the boys suited up, put their visors down and moved in. With a few armed Special Branch lads hidden in amongst them, because they didn’t want to miss the fun.

On arriving, the officers found the entrance to be deserted. Still, a gaping hole stood where the doors had been and there was debris, twisted metal and all the evidence they really needed to start clapping hippies in cuffs. And as though he had read the officers’ collective thoughts, one of the protesters emerged from that man-made orifice and stumbled up to them. It took a few moments for the screaming to start as this protestor, a naked, emaciated specimen, had sunk elongated teeth into the neck of the closest cop and was vigorously tearing off bits of flesh. It only took a few more moments for the Special Branch types to haul out their 9-mils and the gunfire erupted.

With the smell of blood now thick in the air, the rest of the “protestors” emerged from that wound in the building. By the hundreds. They howled and shambled and moved as though they had some terribly important purpose. There were little ones and large ones and those with chainsaws and cleavers instead of limbs and in the last moments of his life, the police sergeant mused that it was a bit like staring at a macabre circus troupe.

On the last day of August, London turned into a Killing Floor.

Gameplay

The gameplay consists of a single game type, solo or multi-player, in which the player fights through waves of zombie-like monsters (or more precisely, specimens from a failed military experiment), with each wave becoming successively more difficult, moving through each area of the level, until it concludes with a battle with a super-specimen, called the Patriarch. Alex Quick, the level designer and texture artist, has stated that "there are a whole bunch of ideas on the drawing board that we can add in after launch, including the 'Story' mode from the mod, for instance."

Levels are completely non-linear and open-ended. There are no restrictions on where players can travel—that is, players can choose where to run and fight. Up to six players can team up in an online cooperative battle with the specimens. The game sessions are fully-configurable, so players can change the difficulty, number of enemy waves, or specify which creatures compose the waves. As the player progress through waves, the tougher-grade specimens are more commonly encountered, however, customizing games will disable the progression of perks. A Software Development Kit (SDK) and level editor is included to aid in the creation of modifications and levels.

There is an array of weapons, including melee weapons, Shotguns, rifles, sidearms and other weapons. Players must earn cash from killing specimens to buy these from the Trader who sells weapons, supplies, and ammo. Players will need to progress through each wave, because the trader is only accessible after completing a wave. When the next wave begins, she relocates, and near the completion of a wave, a red arrow appears on screen, directing the players to the Trader's new location. Players can also drop cash for other players to collect and spend.

A feature called "ZED-time" allows the player to see particularly gory kills, such as headshots, in slow-motion, even in multiplayer mode. It can also give the players an advantage for a brief time to carefully aim their shots. Some characters, commando/berserker have ability to extend zed-time for additional advantage.

Tactical gameplay elements exist, such as the ability to weld doors shut to direct the flow of the enemy hordes, and the gameplay encourages teamwork by giving less of an energy penalty when players heal each other, instead of themselves. Players also need to plan how to beat the final boss, the Patriarch.

There is voice chat, and automatic, randomized voice responses from character interaction and selectable voice commands, similar to Valve's Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead, for communicating with other players. Another similarity is the randomized music played during setup and combat stages each level. In setup, the music is generally ambient and quiet. In combat, it is louder, faster-paced heavy metal for most maps (both composed by zYnthetic), or drum 'n bass for the map Bedlam.

There is a perks system, which gives the player certain strengths and/or abilities. Players have seven to choose from. These can be leveled up as they are used, improving their effectiveness. For example, the Commando perk gives the player a discount on the Bullpup, improved effectiveness with the Bullpup and grants detection of stalkers in a small radius around him.

Features of Killing Floor

Co-op game mode for up to six players obliterating multiple waves of specimens.

Persistent perks system, allowing players to convert their in-game achievements into permanent improvements to their character’s skills and abilities.

Over 150 Steam Achievements, including “Dignity for the dead” for killing 10 enemies feeding on dead teammates’ corpses and “Hot Cross Fun” for finishing off 25 burning enemies with a Crossbow.

Watch those crucial and violent creature deaths in slomo “ZED-time”, even in multiplayer.

Solo game mode for offline play.

10 different monster types trying to eat your face off, armed with everything from teeth and claws, through to chainsaws, chain-guns, rocket-launchers, or even fire ball launchers for long ranged human killing

30+ weapons for the players to chose from, ranging from knives, katanas and fire-axes up to pump shotguns, medic rifles, rifles, grenade launchers, a flamethrower and even a fictional fire-ball launcher